Pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela

[PILGRIMSPLAZA]

Pilgrimage is of all people, faiths, sferes and ages - for hunters, gatherers and smorgasbordians:

Breaking News: My friend in Galicia phoned the cathedral office and learned that the rules for access to the scaffolding for a close encouter with the Gloria will be announced at the end of this month. We'll let you know asap.* Could this be the beginning of the end of The Santiago Enigma!?

* 30-08-08: My friend was in Santiago for a short visit to the cathedral and tried to get news on the access to the scaffolding in the Pórtico, but she was told that this it is still very unclear regarding dates and possibilities.

Quote of the year by my neighbour Erik Jan de Jong:
"The origin may be vague, but the veneration is real"

The Santiago Enigma
1. Why Santiago or Fisterra?
2. Why Saint James or Priscillian?
3. Why millions of secular pilgrims?
4. What Enigma in the Pórtico de la Gloria?
5. How jewish Jacobus became catholic James
6. More reviews of The Way of Saint James coming
7. Here is #1: Ja’akov en Jacobus – is the name a sign?
(by Mrs. Ria van der Pot & Mrs. Marianne Lodder, posted below on March 31st, 2008, 5:25 pm)

This beautiful Santiago Forum, ‘where past pilgrims share and future pilgrims learn’, is the best place to ask these questions that have kept me wondering over the last quarter of a century. The recent reprint of The Way of Saint James by Ms Georgiana Goddard King is a good occasion because Ms King deals with some of these questions. This is only a small part of her very rich classic on the history of art and the cult of Santiago. You could ask: Why now? Hasn’t this been discussed before? Not, I must say, to my knowledge, except by Ms King; speaking of enigmas!
See for reviews of Ms King’s book in the section Pilgrim Books: pilgrim-books/topic3657.html .

The Santiago Enigma
Arriving in Santiago on Plaza de Obradoiro and entering Saint James’ cathedral gives one a very strong almost overwhelming feeling. Back home you may keep wondering for years –like I did- why that feeling stays so strong? Well, perhaps because there is more than meets the eye at first glance. You may be seeing more than you realize. In these chapters we are going to explore those images and questions and we would like you to join us. This will be a wonderful trip into the magic realm of the oldest stories within the usual ones.
We’ll give you some clues to discover this Enigma of Santiago in the narthex of Saint James’ house and other intriguing aspects. All you have to do is sit down with your back against the wall –like I did in 1983- and scan that stone bible for some time, open your hearts and minds and read master Matthew’s great message about yourself. You may share your impressions and feelings with your fellow pilgrims here if you like. It would help if you could read Ms King’s Way of Saint James before you leave! On-line flip books and pdf files make that easy and comfortable.

1. Why Santiago or Fisterra?
What is it that compels pilgrims through the ages to journey to the end of the world as it was known to mediaeval western society? What enigma is Santiago harbouring? What is happening at Fisterra? Why do people want to go west? Even ¡Ultreya! means: Go west as far (ultra) as possible

2. Why Saint James or Priscillian?
The Camino is said to be the burial route for Saint James from the Holy Land as well as for another martyr Priscillian, who was beheaded at Trier (Trèves, in Germany) in 385. Does it matter whose bones are buried in Santiago or Mondoñedo? Is it not more important that they shared (and this we can agree on) the aspects of the end of our mortal lives, of going to where our then known world ended and the sun sets, of the only certainty in life: death?

3. Why millions of secular pilgrims?
Thousands per year? Of course! Tens of thousands? Why not! Hundreds of thousands? Maybe! But millions!? There must be something there which compels and attracts so many secular pilgrims!

4. What enigma harbours the Pórtico de la Gloria?
Sitting with my back against the wall in the narthex back I suddenly saw the message contained in master Matthew’s stone bible. Only recently when I was answering a post on Priscillian in this forum I completely understood that it works like a two sided mirror that talks back. Ms King gives us a clue in rather vague words but you can see with your own eyes what’s going on there. If you can read her book first you will, however, be better prepared! Read for instance in Volume 3 on The Mortal Twin. On-line flip books and flat text pdf files make it easy and comfortable. Also see miscellaneous-about-santiago/topic3915.html .

5. How jewish Jacobus became catholic James
or: 5a. How jewish Ja'akov became roman Jacobus and catholic James, or: 5b. How James became jacobean
Not an enigma but a very interesting question is how the NT-apostle Jacobus came to be named James. He was the brother (Ms King even calls him a twin) of Christ and second-in-command after Him. Was the name James given deliberately or did it develop in time and language? Is it perhaps connected with his postmortem developing of faith from jewish to christian?
Elsewhere in this forum jacobean names for sheep and flowers are already being discussed. As will be explained below he was most likely named after the OT-patriarch Jacob (of Jacob’s ladder and Bethel). Recently I found this nice picture (below) of IACOBUS VI D.G. MAGNÆ of BRITANNIÆ, FRANCE ET HIBERNIÆ REX and I wondered why he wasn't called James. Please let us know if you've read other books or found more posts on this forum that answer these fascinating questions!

5a. How jewish Ja'akov became roman Jacobus and catholic James
See the first two pictures below; is this a coïncidence or is there more than meets the eye? Towards the end of Summer 2008 I found clear answers in part ONE chapter 6 The formation of Christianity in The Messianic Legacy (sequel to The Holy Blood and The Holy Grail) by Baigent, Leigh & Lincoln, 1986, ISBN 0-552-13182-2. At first sight we 'believe' that the observations of our three heroes are to the point and making sense, so please enlighten us if they don't! http://www.alibris.co.uk/booksearch?qwo ... ng*buyused price: €1,51 or more.
[94] 6 THE FORMATION OF CHRISTIANITY
[95] Acts offers a more or less reliable historic account of Paul's dispute with the Nazarean Party, which would culminate in nothing less than an entirely new religion.
[96] By A.D. 38, Jesus was being openly proclaimed as the Messiah -- not the Son of God but simply the rightful and anointed king -- by Nazarean refugees, or perhaps established communities, as far away as Antioch. It was here, in the Syrian capital far to the north of Damascus, that the term 'Christian' was to be applied to them for the first time. Until then, they had simply been called Nazareans. And they continued to be called Nazareans elsewhere -- especially Jerusalem -- for many years.
In A.D. 38, a centralised Nazarean authority was already well established in Jerusalem. By later Christian chroniclers, this administrative hierarchy was to become known as 'the Early Church'. Its most famous member, was, of course, Peter. Its official head, [97] however, conspicuously neglected by later tradition, was Jesus's brother Jacob, known subsequently as Saint James, or James the Just. By this time, the Magdalene, the Virgin and others of those closest to Jesus had disappeared, and there is no further mention of them in scriptural accounts. It is certainly reasonable to suppose that later assertions are accurate and that they sought refuge in exile. What is significant, however, is that it is not Peter, but Jesus's brother James who presides over the 'Church' in Jerusalem. Quite clearly, some principle of dynastic succession is at work. And it can hardly be coincidental that James is referred to as 'Zadok'.4 [98] At last, around A.D. 62-5, James, head of the Nazarean Party in Jerusalem, was seized and executed.
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[455] Eisenman, R.H., Maccabees, Zadokites, Christians and Qumran (Leiden, 1983)
--- James the Just in the Habakkuk Pesher (Leiden, 1986)
[469] 4 Eisenman, Maccabeus …, p.5, referring to Eusibius, History 2:23. Note that in Arabic James is Saddiq Ja'aqob (Eisler, Messiah Jesus, p.499).

Also see: http://www.mystae.com/restricted/reflec ... hurch.html :
(3) James the Just
"The disciples said to Jesus, 'We know that you are going to leave us. Who will be our leader?' - Jesus said to them, 'No matter where you are, you are to go to James the Just, for whose sake heaven and earth came into being.'" - Thomas Logion 12
James title, the Just or "Righteous One" (Zaddik) was borne by claimants to the High Priesthood, a lineage that dated back to the time of King David. - James is an English rendition of the Hebrew Jacob by which he would have been known by his Jewish contemporaries.
"Tyndale was...a good Oxford-Cambridge trained Greek scholar and based his translation on the 3rd (1522) edition of Erasmus' Greek text (which later was to be called the textus receptus). He consistently rendered the Greek IAKOBOS as 'James.' Thus, in the first chapter of 'The epistle off Paul unto the Gallathyans' he has Paul say: 'Then after thre yeare I returned to Jerusalem and abode with hym xv dayes / non other off the Apostles sawe I / save James the lordes brother.'
"It should be noted that the text was printed on the continent in German Gothic script, so there was as yet no distinction between a capital 'I' & a capital 'J.' Thus, Tyndale really rendered IAKOBOS as IAMES." - Mahlon Smith (CrossTalk) --- The first used of James in place of Jacob may have occurred in John Wycliff's English translation of the Bible ca. 1375 CE.

PS: 1-10-8 Yesterday I was advised the Heidelberger Catechismus for more clear answers on short questions. It looks promising but it still may take some time!

6. Already 14 reviews of The Way of Saint James
Almost four years ago I started collecting reviews from pilgrim friends. We already have 14 contributions (mostly in Dutch) that will follow here as soon as possible after getting permission and translation. Now we start with one that answers some questions on naming James after Jacobus or Jacob under the title: "Ja’akov and Jacobus - is the name a sign?" It was posted below on March 31st, 2008, 5:25 pm after being translated into English, which proved a little difficult with the names of Jacob, Jacobus and James, as Peter foresaw!

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More reviews will follow asap.
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To all pilgrims:
Please read The Way of Saint James before you leave* and write a review on any aspect.
Thank you very much!
Geert
*When you read it after returning home you'll surely want to set out right away again!

The Way of Saint James

For comfortable flip book reading:
http://www.openlibrary.org/details/wayo ... 01kinguoft ; http://www.openlibrary.org/details/wayo ... 02kinguoft ; http://www.openlibrary.org/details/wayo ... 03kinguoft ;

For an easy and quick browse through all the flat texts:
http://elcaminosantiago.com/PDF/Way_of_ ... mes_01.txt ; http://elcaminosantiago.com/PDF/Way_of_ ... mes_02.txt ;
http://elcaminosantiago.com/PDF/Way_of_ ... mes_03.txt ;

To the full index http://pilgrimsplaza-king-index.blogspot.com ;
To my English home page http://king-early-days.blogspot.com ;
To my Dutch website home page http://www.pelgrimspaden.nl ;
To my e-mail address in all my 27 internet weblogs > Comments 1.

For a special introductory offer: http://www.pilgrimsprocess.com/events.htm

Also see pilgrim-books/topic3657.html
and pilgrim-books/topic3554.html#p20259

And at last for our Dutch pilgrims: http://santiago.nl/links.php
and http://www.santiago.nl/nieuws_20080414_ ... enigma.php

[Priscillian]

Ah, Pilgrim Geert, but you anticipate me once again!
Did you notice that those Heavenly Musicians who arch so gracefully across the Portico are Laughing as they tune up for their Final Performance?
Quote: "There must be something there which compels and attracts so many secular pilgrims! " Yes, perhaps that is the Ultimate Enigma!
Tracy Saunders
http://pilgrimagetoheresy.com
P.S. I'll have to order copies of Ms. King. Reading online gives me a headache!

[PILGRIMSPLAZA]

Did you notice that those Heavenly Musicians who arch so gracefully across the Portico are Laughing as they tune up for their Final Performance? Quote: "There must be something there which compels and attracts so many secular pilgrims!" Yes, perhaps that is the Ultimate Enigma! P.S. I'll have to order copies of Ms. King. Reading online gives me a headache!

Ah Tracy, thank you so much for your kind reaction! For the second time writing to you made me understand the Gloria better. A long time ago I read in a book on sculpting how wonderful that pair of Heavenly Musicians connects the two halfs of the arch that we also may see as the spheres of heaven. It was master Matthew's brilliant idea to use that long instrument to bridge that gap. We could also see it as the meeting of a metaphorical East and West, couldn't we? That's the way to look at the Gloria to really see what there is to watch. I do hope that you'll earn that lunch! You are getting very close to the enigma I'm talking about. Please consider choosing that last first print with dusk jacket (con camisa) from Madrid. A friend sent http://users.drew.edu/vburrus leading to http://muse.jhu.edu/login?uri=/journals ... urrus.html but perhaps you already knew?

[Gareth Thomas]

I do hope that you'll earn that lunch! You are getting very close to the enigma I'm talking about.

Oh, Geert: I hope you're not going to make it too easy. Can a spiritual enigma be reduced to the level of a breakfast-time crossword puzzle? If it can be so reduced then it will not be worth seeking out, surely?

On the other hand there are no hidden mysteries, but only one unhidden mystery: God loves us.

And that is all. The lovers of mysteries always find that one, unhidden, astonishing mystery, very hard to accept. But it is all.

Gareth

[Gareth Thomas]

I do hope that you'll earn that lunch! A friend sent http://users.drew.edu/vburrus leading to http://muse.jhu.edu/login?uri=/journals ... urrus.html but perhaps you already knew?

Oh dear, Geert. Having enticed me with your compelling suggestion about the enigma of the Portal de la Gloria, you now give references to the above places. There is nothing here of any value. If you are looking at real tradition, you cannot combine that with references to feminist theology. That may be very interesting in terms of modern culture, but it offers nothing for those who explore the Camino. If that is disappointing, find another Camino!

Sorry: we're either exploring an authentic tradition or we are playing games with post-modern semiotics. We can't do both: it is neither intellectually useful nor spiritually viable. There's only one loyalty on the Camino, and that's Catholic tradition. It is out of that tradition that the Camino was born, and it is that tradition - which offers an encounter with Christ on the road - that keeps the Camino alive.

Mysteries are all around us and they are very dull. The Reality who wakes with us and walks with us on the Camino is commonplace and exciting, for He is at once ordinary and the source of our being. I'll take a look at the Portal de la Gloria when I get there for the fourth time in July... but it will be a secondary mystery. The main mystery is the one St James died for, proclaimed, and evangelised Spain for: the mystery of our Redemption.

We must always seek to keep it simple. There is no 'mystery' beyond the mystery of our salvation. If there is something more, we do not seek it. That is what a pilgrim to Santiago should understand and follow. It is that simple: Catholic faith and Catholic virtue. The Camino can become a whole complicated knot of mysteries, or it can simply be what it always has been: a longer way of doing what you can do in your local church, queue up and go to confession.

Gareth

[PILGRIMSPLAZA]

I hope you're not going to make it too easy.

No, Gareth, I'll not give it away like I've been asked before but stick to what is already mentioned. Anyway, nobody needs clues; it really is your way of looking. This is basicly not about religion but about art and craft of passing messages in stone in times without paper! Perhaps knowlegde about contexts doesn't make it easier. I guess it was all clear for 'illiterate' medieval stone bible readers. Perhaps that's why it was never mentioned in books because it is so simple and obvious. It's not a new thing either, it's been there for ages. Words like easy or difficult are also not relevant here.
Yesterday I had a very Good Friday when me and my best pilgrim friend feasted on a large bowl of delicious local bouillabaisse in Scheveningen. It turned out however that he referred to yet a slightly different aspect so the enigma is still safe. Now isn't it wonderful, that good friends have a good Santiago topic to discuss over a good lunch. I've always said that there is only one thing 'true' about our Gemmez (Normandian name for Jacques and James): that he gives you good friends. I wish you and I could have that lunch one day. Read King!

[PILGRIMSPLAZA]

There is nothing here of any value.

Ah Gareth, I like your faith and respect your convictions very much and in fact I'm a little jealous. I do wish I could believe like you but I can't so I'm condemned to work a little harder. I'm not sure if the case of feminism is relevant here but Ms King made me conscious and Tracy's first post just triggered me and I like the way they both look. I'm convinced that our differences are smaller than they may look now and I do believe that we'll all meet somewhere one day; perhaps halfway? That would be a marvelous party! I do hope that you will choose to stay on board of this trip!

[Gareth Thomas]

I do hope that you will choose to stay on board of this trip!

Oh yes! There's no doubt about that. I've downloaded my copies of the three volumes of King. My pilgrimage will take me through Chartres on the way south, so I'll have another opportunity to renew my conversations with medieval iconography there, in the place where I first learned to read the stones and the glass, with Emile Male as a guide.

Re-reading what I wrote above, I've probably put it too dogmatically and even a shade pompously(!) Nevertheless, I do stick to the view that the Catholic roots and tradition of the Camino need to be respected. There are people running businesses on the Camino who want to stamp your credencial with images of Hindu gods (vegetarian refugio at La Faba) and wizards in pointy hats (Cafe Bar Lino, O Pino), etc. You can get tantric massage, have your palm read, tarot readings, crystal gazing, all the way along the Camino. That's fine, if you like that sort of thing. It's a world in which people make their own choices and it's all on offer; and inasmuch as these things are simply cashing in on the renewed popularity of the Camino, that's maybe what you can expect to see much more of. But it comes at a price. One thing I have heard from friends of the Camino in Spain is a concern that this creeping change of emphasis is accompanied by a marketing mentality on the Camino, and as huge new private refugios are being constructed at various points this commercialism goes hand-in-hand with a market place of 'feelgood' spiritualities and vague mysticism.

I believe the Camino can survive that, but only if it is tackled head-on. It is perhaps for that reason that I am a little wary, and I'm sure you understand.

Gareth

[PILGRIMSPLAZA]

respect

You’re making some good points again, Gareth! In my early days as a professional pilgrim in a large tourist club it was my job to give any information on the camino I could provide. Then I couldn’t say in public “The best travel advice is: Stay home and read!”, but the thought did cross my mind seeing how ill-prepared some pilgrims set out. This problem has never left my mind as some of my friends know but I wouldn't know what to do about it! Life can be hard and we can't solve all problems!

Also my eldest pilgrim friends in those days were furious when trees and picknick sites appeared on the meseta. So yes, there is a lot to worry about. Answering your last remark I do understand what you mean but I think these questions should be discussed in another topic. In the way I see my subject here respect is not an issue!

About Chartres: I remember Saint Jacques in a window with deep red and blue stained glass in the back behind the choir a little to the left. I wonder if you could find Daniel’s ‘sorriso’ there too on the face of a statue; see http://consellodacultura.org/wp-content ... orriso.pdf.

Will you do the labyrint on your knees like in the old days? I'll never forget a pilgrim in Fatima on her knees crossing the square that is larger than St Peter's in Rome. She had a child on her arm and was surrounded by family in their best black and white outfits. You could see that she was suffering badly. Talking about respect! I wish you a good voyage and many fine memories!
Geert

[Gareth Thomas]

He was the brother (Ms King even calls him a twin) of Christ and second-in-command after Him.

There's always a lot of confusion about the different people called James. James the Great (or Greater) is the brother of the Evangelist John, and they were both - possibly - cousins of Jesus. See the article on St James in the Catholic Encyclopedia: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08279b.htm

On the question of the separate James (known as 'brother of the Lord') see: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02767a.htm

And on the confusion of various James's:
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08280a.htm

Hope this helps. There are of course various interpretations of scriptural references to James, but the confusion about St James and the other James comes right out of the medieval period! It was a world in which the Gutenberg Bible had not yet arrived, so the confusion is understandable: people couldn't check their texts, and references to James were merged in the popular mind. It is still happening...

Gareth

[PILGRIMSPLAZA]

There's always a lot of confusion about the different people called James.

Thank you very much for this beautiful and comprehensive post, Gareth! It is nicely in line with our goal “to answer some questions on naming James after Jacobus or Jacob under the title: ‘Ja’akov and Jacobus - is the name a sign?’”. That new contribution is now being translated from Dutch into English, which “proved a little difficult with the names of Jacob, Jacobus and James” as stated on top of this page.
I’ve mailed your text to the authors and we hope to discuss it Wednesday at lunch in a newly renovated church of Saint James between The Hague and Rotterdam: http://www.ophodenpijl.nl. It so happened that this very impressive renovation is the life-work of two Santiago pilgrims! Our initial text will start from a totally different point of view, however, so that could spark a fine debate that hopefully will lead us back –as intended- to Ms King’s vision on whom our Jakkez was. - Geert

[PILGRIMSPLAZA]

For some more comfortable reading: [King – The Mortal Twin + Notes – Easter 2008]

HISPANIC NOTES AND MONOGRAPHS I
THE WAY OF SAINT JAMES
by GEORGIANA GODDARD KING (1920)

Volume 1: BOOK ONE: THE PILGRIMAGE: chapters I – V pp 1-134
Volume 1: BOOK TWO: THE WAY: chapters I – VIII 135-463
Volume 2: BOOK TWO: THE WAY: chapters IX – XVI 1-514
Volume 3: BOOK THREE: THE BOURNE: chapters I – VII 1-370
Volume 3: BOOK FOUR: HOMEWARD: chapters I – III 371-710
chapter VII THE ASIAN GOD 278
The Mortal Twin 334-346
NOTES 484-489

[334] The Mortal Twin.
[Meat for my black cock
And meat for my red . . .
--George Peele.]

At this point it becomes necessary to consider those apocryphal Acts of the Apostles which brought Pricillian to martyrdom, 1 and with them, the general confusion of mind, in the early centuries of the church, about the name and character of certain of the Apostles. [Romances of the Apostles] There was a time when these pious romances supplied reading to the devout. S. Toribio, whom we have met on the Pass of Rabanal, as he came back from the Holy Land with relics some time before 440, 2 was very active against the Priscillianists and denounced them as reading the Acts of S. Thomas, S. Andrew, and S. John, and with these the Memorials of Apostles, which are not otherwise known. Yet S. Silva of Aquitaine, on her journey sixty years before, 3 had read the Acts of S. Thomas at Edessa, and elsewhere those of S. Tecla, as a matter of course and with edification, [335] precisely like those sentimental travellers who read Le Jardin de Berenice at Aigues Mortes and the Chanson de Roland at Roncevaux.
About certain of the twelve Apostles, and disciples, equally, the situation is not very clear: even the lists in the canonical Gospels do not agree. Some, like SS. Peter and Paul, John and Barnabas, are plain, their names, their burial places: but again, as Michael the Syrian says 4 [A Jacobite Bishop] rather dolefully, there are only three names for six Apostles, which is hard. Some of them are brothers, some of them are commemorated in couples. James was the brother of the Lord, but which James?
"Thy Mother and Thy brethren are without'' -- which are brethren? The genealogy which the Golden Legend offers, it will be remembered, is this: 5
(i) Anna married (a) Joachim, (b) Cleophas, (c) Salomas, and had three daughters all called Mary: (2) Mary Virgin married Joseph and Jesus was her son: (3) Mary Cleophas married Alphaeus and her children were James Minor, Simon, Jude called [336] Thaddaeus (called also Addai, be it noted), and Joseph Justus [James called Justus: Compostellan Breviary] called Barsabas (whom I know only as a name) : (4) Mary Salome married Zebedee and her children were James and John called the Sons of Thunder, Boanerges. But the situation was not so clear in earlier centuries nor in the east. Michael the Syrian (1166-1199) says, 6 for instance, that James Zebedee was persecuted at Jerusalem and martyred by a fuller's mallet: with James Alphaeus he brackets Simon the Canaanite called Zelotes and also Nathaniel, who preached in Syria at Aleppo and Mabog (Bombyce, which is Hierapolis) and was martyred at Cyrrhus where his church is. But Theodosius in his treatise On the Topography of the Holy Land 7 says that "Cosmas and Damian lie there at Cyrrhus, not the famous physicians however." The point is apparently that twins lie there and Simon is a twin.
The next Apostle whom Michael the Syrian names is that Thaddaeus whose surname was Lebbaeus, who is Jude the son of James. He was sawn asunder at [337] Berenice, which is Berytus, says Chabot; now Berytus, or Beyrut is the sea-port of Heliopolis. After the list of Apostles he proceeds with the seventy disciples, of whom the first is Addai that preached in Edessa and baptized King Abgar, died and was buried there. Fifteenth comes Jude the brother of James; twenty-sixth Simon the son of Cleophas; twenty-eighth James [… qui el Judas] who was killed with his brother; Mark and Luke figure as forty-third and forty-fourth; fiftieth, John who was thrown to beasts in the theatre of Baalbek! The son of Narses king of Persia who was born during a flight and was brought up in Membig which is Hierapolis, was sent to Edessa on an errand and saw the church built by Addai. 8 From this sample the confusion may be judged.
In Jerusalem the two Apostles called James were for a long time confounded. Theodosius (c. 530) who makes Cleophas one of the pilgrims of Emmaus, says 9:

S. James whom the Lord ordained bishop with his own hand, after the Lord's [338] ascension was cast down from the pinnacle of the Temple and suffered [S. James in Jerusalem] no hurt, but a fuller slew him with a pole on which he used to carry his things and he was buried on Mount Olivet. S. James, S. Zacharias, and S. Simeon were buried in one tomb which S. James had built, he buried the others there and left directions that he should also be laid therein.

Two things are notable here: one that the the fuller's mallet belongs to S. James as [The Mallet God] the instrument of his martyrdom, but it was already the axe of Adad; and the other that the sepulchre with three bodies found at Santiago in the ninth century, existed at Jerusalem in the sixth.
Antoninus Martyr, who was such another as Aymery Picaud, writing about 560-570, [A good companion] mentions the great earthquake at Berytus in which, the Bishop told him, 30,000 persons perished there; this will be what shook down the sanctuary at Heliopolis. He testifies: "On the Mount of Olives rests James the Son of Zebedee, and Cleophas and many bodies of saints."10
[339] And he is trustworthy as Aymery, and like him took his notes on the spot.
John of Wurtzburg (1160-1170) saw the church of S. James in the hands of [" . . . A Gallegan without a head ..."] Armenians, as it is still presumably: "He was beheaded by Herod and his body was placed by his disciples on board a ship at Joppa and carried to Galicia but his head remained in Palestine and is still shown to pilgrims" 11 . . . . An anonymous pilgrim who was in Jerusalem before 1187 saw "the Lord's temple where He was presented and whence He cast out those who bought and sold and from whence James the Lord's brother was cast down." 12 The Citez de Jherusalem, composed after that date, says that there is the church of S. James of Galicia who was the brother of S. John the Evangelist; that at Joppa under a castle in the church of S. Peter is found the cloak of S. James of Galicia on which he crossed the sea; that on a mountain above Acre stands the church of SS. James and John [S. James the Less] where they were born. 13 The buen seynt de Galise is fairly well-defined by the end of the twelfth century.

[340] Burchard of Mount Sion went thither in 1232, and saw the place where S. James was beheaded by Herod Agrippa. 14 But thereafter he is almost forgotten in the east: and James the Less usurps his place. Marino Sanuto (1321) who borrows freely from Burchard, has not a word to tell of the Son of Zebedee, but he relates that near the Virgin's Tomb [--enclosed, but open to the sky--] is the Sepulchre of James the Less, for the Christian buried him here after the Jews had cast him down from the Temple; and elsewhere, that in the Chamber of the Last Supper, S. Matthias was elected, the Holy Ghost descended, the seven deacons were chosen and S. James the Less was ordained Bishop of Jerusalem. 15 Leopold von Suchem, thirty years later, thought that James Minor, the Lord's brother, was martyred by the Jews casting him down from the Temple. 16 After this it seems no more than compensation, if Luke of Tuy makes S. James Major the protomartyr.
His confused account of the Apostles represents the state of Spanish knowledge in the thirteenth century, which was no [341] better than the Syrian. It amounts about to this:

Trajan [he says] built the bridge of Alcantara and allowed the Christians [S. Luke of Tuy] to be persecuted, and Simon Cleophas Bishop of Jerusalem was crucified. S. John died in Ephesus at ninety-nine, when Galen of Pergamo the great doctor flourished. [Then he starts a new paragraph.]
Peter and Paul are buried at Rome; Andrew at Patras, a city of Achaia; James Zebedee in a marble ark and then carried to the farthest province of Spain, Galicia; John at Ephesus, Philip and his daughters at Hierapolis of Asia; Thomas at Calamia a city of India; Matthew in the Parthian mountains; Martial, a disciple of the Apostles, at Limoges; Luke in Bithynia and Mark at Alexandria; James Alphaeus beside the temple at Jerusalem; Thaddaeus, that is Jude, in Beyrout of the Edessenes. Simon Cleophas who is Jude (qui et Judas) bishop after James, was crucified [But compare Abn-Edhari, page 203] at the age of a hundred and twenty Edharif years in Jerusalem and buried there; Titus in Crete; Crescens the eunuch of [342] Candace the queen of Arabia Felix, in Gaul. 17

It is worth noting, perhaps, as an instance of how these confusions come, that the Jerusalem pilgrims went to see the place where Philip baptized the eunuch; now Mgr. Duchesne says 18 that the Latin texts of the Apostolic Catalogues give Macedonia to S. Matthew, Gaul to S. Philip, and Spain to S. James, a few sending S. Matthew to Ethiopia. Philip having been placed in Gaul and then withdrawn, the eunuch becomes his substitute. Two more notes of Mgr. Duchesne's must be remembered: the first, that Mozarabic calendars place the Feast of Santiago [A vegetation spirit] on May-Day 19 ; now Tamayo de Salazar extracts from the Chronicle of Julian Perez the Arch-priest of S. Justa, a statement that S. James the Less was commissioned by S. Peter, acting under orders from the Blessed Virgin, to attend to the interests of the Church and especially of Spain, and his feast fixed for May i. The other is, that he accepts as authentic the Hymn [343] attributed to King Mauregato (783-788) which declares Jacobus Hispaniam: and [--in what sense ?] adds that there seems to be no distinction between the two SS. James. 20
In the Apocryphal Acts of Andrew and Matthias in the City of the Man-Eaters, James and Simon are called the brothers of Jesus the son of Joseph the carpenter. 21
The Acts of Thaddaeus relate how Thaddaeus was a native of Edessa, and after Christ had sent his likeness to King Abgar by Ananias the courier, then, after the Passion and the Resurrection and Ascension, Thaddaeus went to Abgar and instructed and baptized him, as S. Thomas did in the Acts which S. Silva of Aquitaine read there, and ultimately died and was buried at Berytus, a city of Phoenicia by the sea. 22

Taking for a moment East and West together, the case may be stated about as follows:

Thomas was a twin, Didymus; but [--as Rendel Harris shows--] Thomas = Jude, and also Thomas = Thaddaeus (Addai)
Simon + Jude are a pair [344]
James is brother of the Lord; but there are two Jameses
James Major = James Minor and Philip + James are a pair
These all are twins and all are interchangeable.
Philip = Adad at Hierapolis, but
Philip + James Minor = James Major
.*. James Major = Adad, especially at Heliopolis.

It can be further proved. In the Acts of Philip, S. Philip is called the Son of [S. Philip surrogate of S, James] Thunder; 23 he is subject to fits of rage like SS. James and John when they would have called down fire from heaven; 24 he directs the preparation of his mummy in wrappings that would bring it to the shape of the cult-image. 25 But he bears in other ways more likeness to Dionysus, he is accompanied by the leopard and the kid of the [Avatar of Dionysus,] goats, 26 and by wild women, 27 and where his blood falls a vine springs up. 28 Now the minor temple at Heliopolis, as we know today, was dedicated to Dionysus. His companion and sister is Mariamne, who is a disciple of S. James in other legends, [345] and who, by the way, is herself a twin! 29 Rendel Harris has expounded delightfully how S. Thomas is the twin of Christ, and looks just like him, so that Christ on coming into a room is taken for S. Thomas who has just gone out. 30 "And the Lord said to him, I am not Judas who also is Thomas; I am his brother." In the Acts of Philip, when S. Philip is in the rôle of S. James, Christ appears in the likeness [and twin Christ] of S. Philip. 31 Priscillian knew this twin of ol Christ's: "Ait Juda apostolus clamans ille didymus domini". 32 As one of the Sons of Thunder, of course S. James was a twin, and again we have to thank Rendel Harris for all the instances of the twin-child that is the Lightning's child: 33 S. John was the twin brother to S. James, but S. John was otherwise disposed of. He lived to be very old, his place was Ephesus: S. John in Ephesus, S. Peter in Rome, S. James in Compostella, was an idea familiar to the twelfth century in Galicia, and doubtless elsewhere and earlier: so the world was distributed, east and west and in Italy. Therefore S. James must have another twin: and was he not [346] already, in Canonical Scripture, the Brother of the Lord? The mortal twin, the chthonian power [One goes to the underworld], is S. James: the divine, in heaven, is Jesus: but on the baldachin at Compostella S. James ruled.
Eastern Spain was peculiarly liable to influences from the East, and Syrian saints abound at Vich, Tarrasa, and thereabouts, who are often brethren, like SS. Cosmo and Damian, SS. Abdon and Senen. But in Catalan painting [Evidence from Iconography] of the fourteenth and fifteenth century, the twins are enforced, the likeness between S. James Major and his Master Christ is as marked as in the Gloria of Maestro Mateo. In the Last Supper of Solsona S. James in hat and slavey n still looks like Christ; in the Serras' altar piece at S. Cugat the two SS. James are identical, except for attributes. In Borassa's retable of the Poor Clares at Vich, SS. Simon and Jude look precisely like the Veronica which they are presenting to King Abgar; so in the predella, only SS. Thomas and Matthias (= Matthew), so S. James Minor.

[347] The High God. (…)

Volume 3: BOOK THREE: THE BOURNE: chapters I – VII 1-370
chapters I – VII THE ASIAN GOD 278
The Mortal Twin 334-346
NOTES 484-489

[484] The Mortal Twin:
[486] The High God:
[487] Along the Eastern Road:
8 The case is this :
(i) Stones were worshipped in protohistoric Spain, and the drawing of Santiago's pillar is identically like those on Minoan gems.
A Pillar was associated with S. James, and worshipped at Saragossa, and at Compostella.
(2) The Jinete is to be identified with Castor, and S. James involved, as warrior and as twin, wherever he was worshipped.
(3) The High God of Compostella: he is a storm god, a sky god, and a sun god. His Mate is the Lady of the Doves, Dea Ataecina.
(4) S. James is psychopompos and patron of wayfarers, succeeding the Celtic Esus-Mercury, and Mithras. He is a chthonian power.
(5) The type of Serapis and the epithet Soter were given to him.
(6) The relation of Mother and Son at ompostella must be connected with the
Lusitanian inscriptions to the Mother of the gods.
(7) He is a vegetation-god, and rainmaker: a bull-god.
(8) He is the twin of Christ.
[489] (9) This combination, in the High God of Compostella, of sun god, fertility god, and war god, made easy this identification with
the greatest of the Syrian Baals, the Zeus of Heliopolis.
(10) The later empire and Middle Age knew all about Heliopolis from Lucian and Macrobius and also from travellers, John of Antioch, Michael the Syrian and Benjamin of Tudela, all writing in the twelfth century, and all describing what was there.
(il) Syrian architects left their mark in Europe.
(12) It is most probable that the stair at the west end of Santiago and Notre Dame du Puy, is fetched from Syria.

NOTES: BOOK FOUR CHAPTER I (…)

For some extra comfortable reading:

Volume 1: BOOK ONE: THE PILGRIMAGE: chapters I – V pp 1-134
Volume 1: BOOK TWO: THE WAY: chapters I – VIII 135-463
Volume 2: BOOK TWO: THE WAY: chapters IX – XVI 1-514
Volume 3: BOOK THREE: THE BOURNE: chapters I – VII 1-370
[365] "Along the Eastern Road.

Nimrod is lost in Orion,
and Osiris in the Dog-Star.
- Sir Thomas Browne.

I have shown in earlier chapters how in certain aspects the sanctuary of Santiago [Objects at Sion and Byzance] resembles Jerusalem, as in the sepulchre and the chain, or Constantinople, as in the crown and the notion of three churches [Scales and White Horse] one over the other. These likenesses are deliberate. Other things included in Thurkill’s description have not been explained, as we can explain the weighing of the souls, and the devil on a great black horse.
Chief of these are the stepped pool and [The Great Stair and Pool] the stairway through which you look up to the altar. That stairway was described [366] by Lucian as he saw it at Hierapolis, and the great steps with the vista through the propylaeum and hexagonal court even into the Basilica of Theodosius, were there at Heliopolis likewise, and they were figured on the coins, 1 and they impressed Puchstein when he was digging for the German emperor. 2 The coin of Philip and the [(Pages 2 os 355)] drawing of Mr. Pennell, which both adorn this book, express identical architectural inventions, and Aymery's description of the western staircase at Santiago supplies a third instance. The steps and the vista are not in the least Greek. There is nothing like them in any account of Jerusalem, they are found nowhere in Rome. At one shrine in France they may be seen, where the doors that close them at the foot were made by Syrian workmen, and that is the sanctuary of the Mountain Mother, Notre Dame du Puy. [Our Lady of the Peak] There were Syrian architects in Spain as well, along the Camino francés, and Sr. Lampérez postulated their share, although reserving his evidence, in the building of the cathedral at Compostella. 3

[367] Let us not have over this, if any one is ever well-disposed toward the notion, such unseemly wrangling for precedency [... Y aquel monte es la Iglesia] as in the case of Toulouse: let us say that in both cases the architectural impetus was Syrian, and the Storm God and the Mountain Mother alike were domiciled in the west. The consistent syncretism of the early centuries of our era was capable of this and more.
The high god of Compostella had taken up into himself all the worships, all the devotions that reached his shrine, and they [donde os ha de velar] were many. They were borne in the dust of marching legions, of wandering peddlars, of returning pilgrims and crusaders. His sanctuary was like the Syrian goddess's, “with something of the traits of all others,” 4 Jerusalem, Byzance, and Baalbek.
There is no other account that explains all the facts. There is no improbability à priori. The objection that in a Christian country S. James could not have come so near to being God, will hardly stand. His would not be the first devotion that thought it not robbery to be equal with God. The [368] early church when it was struggling for existence with all the other Syrian cults, and Egyptian, and Anatolian, and Asiatic from further east, was willing to identify Christ with the sun, 5 and on a glass the head of Christ is the rayed bust of Sol Sanctissimus. 6 The Manichaeans identified Him with the sun: the Armenians then and still, it is credibly asserted, as Christians have always worshipped the sun.
S. Bridget in Celtic Ireland was identified with the Blessed Virgin Mary, 7 the local divinity with the exotic, she was called Mary of the Gaels, "the mother of my celestial king," and one verse of a hymn prays "that she will root out from us the vices of the flesh, she the budded rod, she the mother of Jesus." Réville and Cumont are authorities respectable even to the orthodox, and the facts about S. Bridget are given by Don Louis Gougaud in the Bibliothèque de l’enseignement de l’histoire ecclesiastique. These parallels have sufficient weight, it is hoped. As late as the twelfth century the most astonishing implications were used for their emotional [369] value at Santiago in Fulbert's Mass, and still more amazing phrases in Queen Elvira's donation fifty years earlier. S. James was still the high god, his was the worship and the kingdom, his the power and the glory.
The ultimate fact is the worship: 8 [The state of the case, page 488] religions come and pass again; that changes not:

As the soul whence each was born makes
room for each,
God by God goes out, discrowned and
disanointed
But the soul stands fast that gave them
shape and speech."

[369] the end Volume 3: BOOK THREE: THE BOURNE: chapters I – VII 1-370;
[371] follows Volume 3: BOOK FOUR: HOMEWARD: chapters I – III 371-710.

[Priscillian]

I just posted this in response to "The Santiago Enigma" on Santiagobis. Perhaps as we can look at a great sculpture, or a symbolically intriguing painting and find inner meaning, we can find more answers to our "Enigma" in poetry than we can in literary discourse.
So I thought Eugenio Gariibay's beautiful Spanish poem would fit quite nicely here too....

This was written in Spanish and German near Najara. I hope it is there still.

Polvo, barro, sol y lluvia
es el camino de Santiago
millares de pelegrinos
y mas de un millar de años.

Peregrino, quien te llama?
Que fuerza oculta te atrae?
Ni el camino de las estrellas
ni las grandes catedrales.

No es la bravura Navarra
ni el vino de los Riojanas
ni los mariscos Gallegos
ni los campos Castellanos.

Peregrino, quien te llama
Que fuerza oculta te atrae?
Ni las gentes del camino
ni los costumbres rurales.

Ni es la historia y la cultura
ni el gallo de la Calzada
ni el palacio de Guadí
ni el castillo Ponferrada.

Todo lo veo al pasar
y es un gozo verlo todo
mas la voz que a mi me llama
lo siento mucho mas hondo.

La fuerza que a mi empuja
la fuerza que a mi me atrae
no se explica ni yo
sólo el de arriba lo sabe.
Eugenio Gariibay
Amigos Camino Santiago (Najara)


Tracy Saunders
http://pilgrimagetoheresy.com

[PILGRIMSPLAZA]

we can find more answers to our "Enigma" in poetry than we can in literary discourse.

By definition, and quicker too, I would say. When I see some messages of young pilgrims in a hurry I sometimes think of this beautiful line "pray that the road is long" in this poem by Kavafis:

When you set out on your journey to Ithaca,
pray that the road is long,
full of adventure, full of knowledge.
The Lestrygonians and the Cyclops,
the angry Poseidon -- do not fear them:
You will never find such as these on your path,
if your thoughts remain lofty, if a fine
emotion touches your spirit and your body.
The Lestrygonians and the Cyclops,
the fierce Poseidon you will never encounter,
if you do not carry them within your soul,
if your soul does not set them up before you.

Pray that the road is long.
That the summer mornings are many, when,
with such pleasure, with such joy
you will enter ports seen for the first time;
stop at Phoenician markets,
and purchase fine merchandise,
mother-of-pearl and coral, amber and ebony,
and sensual perfumes of all kinds,
as many sensual perfumes as you can;
visit many Egyptian cities,
to learn and learn from scholars.

Always keep Ithaca in your mind.
To arrive there is your ultimate goal.
But do not hurry the voyage at all.
It is better to let it last for many years;
and to anchor at the island when you are old,
rich with all you have gained on the way,
not expecting that Ithaca will offer you riches.

Ithaca has given you the beautiful voyage.
Without her you would have never set out on the road.
She has nothing more to give you.

And if you find her poor, Ithaca has not deceived you.
Wise as you have become, with so much experience,
you must already have understood what Ithacas mean.

[PILGRIMSPLAZA]

...find more answers to our "Enigma" in poetry than we can in literary discourse...

Surfing on the internet for a translation of that beautiful poem I found Tracy's own interpretation, so -with her consent- here it is:

‘Dust, mud, sun and rain, is the Way of Saint James; thousands of pilgrims and more than a thousand years. Pilgrim, who calls you? What dark force brings you here? It's not the Way of the Stars, nor the grand cathedrals. Neither is it the courage of Navarra, or the wine of the people of La Rioja. It's not the seafood of Galicia; it's not the countryside of Castilla. Pilgrim, who calls you? What mysterious force attracts you? It is not the people of the way or their rural customs. Nor is it their history and culture. It isn't the cockerel of la Calzada, Gaudi's palace, or the castle in Ponferrada. Everything you see in passing is a joy; and the voice which calls me, makes me feel much deeper. The force which pulls me, attracts me, I cannot explain it. Only he above knows why.’

The more pilgrim's stories I read the more I wonder what force could be stronger? 'Calling' or 'drawing' or the more 'pushing' motives? In other words: is it something inside or outside ourselves or would that be semantics? What do you think?

[Gareth Thomas]

I have just come back from a remarkable experience. Astonishing really, to be standing in front of Maestro Mateo's 'Portico de la Gloria' today in London. I was in the Victoria & Albert Museum, so of course I refer to the copy: a full-size plaster cast.

If you were examining it for the craftsmanship, it would be useless because this is not stone, but to study the iconography it is perfectly suited. Wearing my Camino boots and hat, I left the presbytery of the south London parish church where I am temporarily based and I walked through the fine rain from here to the museum. It was a very short pilgrimage, taking little more than an hour. I didn't expect anything much when I got there: this is after all a copy of the west door of Santiago cathedral, not the real thing.

It was made in the 1880s; even earlier than Georgina Goddard King's writings on this subject. So, evidently enough interest was already there to make this huge enterprise worthwhile. The influence of the Victorian art critic and medievalist John Ruskin, perhaps? Or the pre-Raphaelites? Or the English 19th c. gothic revival in general?

The first thing to remark upon is this: in the four hours that I spent there with this Victorian tribute to Maestro Mateo's work , there was a constant flow of visitors from all nationalities. Many sat down on the two long benches places directly in front of it and some stayed for half an hour contemplating it. A Spanish group arrived and one lady was moved to tears, simply by seeing that this tribute to Maestro Mateo recognized the importance of Spain's beloved patron saint and the building that houses his relics.

The viewing gallery in the V&A places the visitor on a height level with the central tympanum, which is an advantage you do not get in the real portico.

tympanum4.jpg (55.93 KB) Viewed 3251 times

And I too eventually fell under the magic of its charm. I had been photographing it and taking over three hundred photos in the first two hours I was there. (By the way, Geert: you will have some copies this evening by email, as I promised. I just have to sort them.) Then I put the camera away in its bag and just sat down on the bench and contemplated the Gloria. It should be said straight away that I have already spent some time on three occasions in Santiago looking at the real Portico de la Gloria, so I was not expecting to be drawn in by a plaster copy!

I should know better by now. If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans! I was suddenly quite overwhelmed by the magnificence of it all and quite moved to tears. Here was the whole story: the Old Testament prophets on the left (the north side, furthest from the light, so 'in the dark') and the New Testament figures on the right (the south side, nearer to the sun therefore 'in God's light.') The evangelists gathered around Christ in glory in the great tympanum, and on the central pillar, St James, looking remarkably like Christ and indeed - being closer to our level - seeming like the human presence of the divine himself. Even in the copy, it is a remarkably galvanizing figure.

Of course, Mateo the master mason places the figure of himself, crouching on the floor, on the reverse side of this pillar - the only human figure actually at floor level. (The only other figures touching the ground are the animals who support the columns.) So Mateo is looking at the nave of the cathedral from inside the door and I couldn't help see a symbolism in this: Mateo is now eternally facing away from his masterpiece, as if he has seen into an enormous mystery here, captured it in a way that maybe even frightens him at the gift he has been given. Now the job is done, he does not want to look at it again. He dare not. He is spent. He is emptied. He turns to the altar, to the relics, to the life to come, and to watch the Mass being said.

I too am finished, for now. I'll come back to it. I must explore the photos and send some off to Geert. I'll put one here now. But I will come back to it soon and continue. Next time the sun comes out (rare in London!) I shall return to that copy of the Portico de la Gloria and continue the study I have only just begun. When I set off on my Camino in May, I will be walking from this copy to the real thing, and that is quite a privileged position to be in.

Gareth
http://whizz-kidz-pilgrim.blogspot.com

[PILGRIMSPLAZA]

Dear Gareth!
I feel moved too! What a wonderful, wonderful day you had! Marvellous! Thank you so much for your intentions and actions! I wish I could have been there! And you have already earned the lunch I promised a few of my best pilgrim friends when they would confirm what I saw in the Pórtico de la Gloria in Santiago so many years ago. The last few days I tested my story on plausibility with a few non-pilgrim friends and they thought it was OK so I can post it immediately when the time is right.

You have already seen what struck me but you do not yet interpret it my way, but that may only be a matter of time now, so please keep thinking and talking! I have already draughted a paper in case a pilgrim like you should suddenly strike home. Please think about that too! What we could do to leave more pilgrims a chance to make their own discovery and have their moment of Glory. I've asked Ivar's advice on the matter.

Your beautiful picture of the tympanum just arrived; thank you so much again! Please send another one of Daniel for he is important in this story. Isn’t this great! Congratulations!
Geert

[PILGRIMSPLAZA]

The Santiago Enigma
1. Why Santiago or Fisterra?
2. Why Saint James or Priscillian?
3. Why millions of secular pilgrims?
4. What Enigma in the Pórtico de la Gloria?
5. How jewish Jacobus became catholic James
6. More reviews of The Way of Saint James coming
7. Here is #1: Ja’akov en Jacobus – is the name a sign? (new!)

This beautiful Santiago Forum, ‘where past pilgrims share and future pilgrims learn’, is the best place to ask these questions that have kept me wondering over the last quarter of a century. The recent reprint of The Way of Saint James by Ms Georgiana Goddard King is a good occasion because Ms King deals with some of these questions. This is only a small part of her very rich classic on the history of art and the cult of Santiago. You could ask: Why now? Hasn’t this been discussed before? Not, I must say, to my knowledge, except by Ms King; speaking of enigmas!

6. Already 14 reviews of The Way of Saint James
Five years ago I started collecting reviews from pilgrim friends. We already have 14 contributions (mostly in Dutch) that will follow here as soon as possible after getting permission and translation. Now we start with one that answers some questions on naming James after Jacobus or Jacob under the title: ‘Ja’akov and Jacobus - Is the name a Sign here?’ The translation from Hebrew via Dutch into English proved a little difficult with the names of Jacob, Jacobus and James -as foreseen- so both authors stuck to Hebrew names for now.

7. Ja’akov en Jacobus – Is the name a Sign here? (new!)
by Ria van der Pot & Marianne Lodder:

"A mental exercise on the possible accidental meaning (synchronism) relating to the naming of the patriach Ja’akov (Jacob) and the apostle Jacobus.

Introduction
Geert and I first met each other during a car trip on the way to the Lilbosch Abbey in Limburg, the Netherlands. The conversation during the trip was mainly about Santiago de Compostela, the Saints Jacob and Paul, synchronisation and the traditions of Judaism. This meeting led to the development of a friendship and the following review which I, together with a friend -an expert on bible matters- have written.

In the last lines of this review we have answered the question in the title, but maybe a short summary in advance will clarify and excite the answer to this question. Both namesakes followed in the footsteps of their brother; Ja’akov, roughly translated, means ‘he grabbed him -his brother- by the heel’. One did this literally by the birth and the other metaphorically followed his brother’s way of living and beliefs.

Nomen est Omen – Is the name a Sign here?
In the Jewish tradition the naming of a child is an important occurrence. There is a Jewish ritual, for example, that someone who is dying could be given a different name with the intention of misleading the Angel of Death.
From the kabbalistic point of view there is the importance of the correct pronounciation of someone’s name because every letter of the Hebrew alphabet has its own energetic strength. Incorrect pronounciation of the name or changing the letters could lead to consequences on cosmic level.
For this reason within the Jewish religion there is a ban on speaking G*d’s name. G*d can only be described, for example as the Almighty One or the Name.

It is written in the first Testament, that at one time twins were born, Esav and Ja'akov, who were the sons of Jitschak and Rivka. Esav was born first, followed by Ja'akov who held him tightly by the heel, this being the reason why the parents chose the name. Which means, roughly translated, ‘he held his brother by the heel’. That his brother later took advantage of the fact that he was the first born is well known.
When the same Ja'akov became an adult, he fought with G*d in the desert [Jabbok; Peniel] and won. A change of name passes by a similar awe-inspiring event: Ja'akov became Israël, which means ‘he that fights with G*d’ and he gets 12 sons: the 12 tribes of Israël.
In the second Testament we read about, amongst others, three Jacobs (originally: Ja’akov and undoubtedly named after the first tribe father):

- Jacob (Major) the apostle son of Zebedeus and brother of the apostle John – he was killed by Herodes Agrippa I. It is believed that this Jacob was responsible for bringing Christianity to Spain. He is the patron saint of Spain, our royal residence The Hague and some other European capitals and is said to be buried in Santiago de Compostela.
- Jacob (Minor) the son of Alpheus, also one of the twelve apostles, and possibly the brother of the apostle Levi who was also named as a son of Alpheus. In the year 62 or 63, at the instigation of the high priest Annas, he was stoned and later bludgeoned to death with a fuller’s club - often shown on illustrations.
- Jacob, the brother of Jesus – he is presumed to be the author of the letter of Jacob referred to in the second Testament. During the Jerusalem conference, at which Paul was also present, he made a moderate point of view that non-Jews could, according to him, also become Christians without first converting to Judaism. Nevertheless he still championed the laws of Moses and the Jewish christians who thought that this in was line with Jesus. According to Flavius Josephus he died a martyr’s death in 70 after Christ in Jerusalem.
- Different figures, different times and different consequences – all with the same name.

To answer the question at the beginning of this review – Is the name a Sign here? Yes, because Ja’akov and Jacobus both followed their brothers:

- The first Ja'akov who, literally, held his brother and fought with G*d, would form a binding link in matters of religion: he became the patriach of the Jewish people.
- The other Jacobs, metaphorically followed their brother-in-belief Jesus, by treading in his footsteps.
- Through this group, Jacob Major would contribute to what amounted to a separation within the Jewish religion and the development of Christianity.

In our opinion it is a happy coincidence that a pilgrims path should exist, named after the last Jacob (Major). In addition, a pilgrimage, a journey on foot, illustrates as no other method can, the mystical Jewish idea that spiritualism is learnt little by little, and happens along the way, step by step, by things one does and comes in contact with. Experiences in life -the pilgrim’s path- and thoughts are continually in contention with each other – and so, it seems, is the circle once more complete."

Ria van der Pot & Marianne Lodder
Easter 2008 – The Hague – Holland

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
More reviews will follow asap.
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TO ALL PILGRIMS:
Please read The Way of Saint James before you leave* and write a review on any aspect.
Thank you very much!
Geert
PILGRIMSPLAZA
http://king-early-days.blogspot.com
*When you read it after returning home you will want to set out right away again!

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The Way of Saint James

For comfortable flip book reading:
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For a special introductory offer: http://www.pilgrimsprocess.com/events.htm

Also see pilgrim-books/topic3657.html
and miscellaneous-topics/topic3763.html

[Gareth Thomas]

You have already seen what struck me but you do not yet interpret it my way, but that may only be a matter of time now... Please send another one of Daniel for he is important in this story. Isn’t this great! Congratulations!

Here you are then, the smiling prophet Daniel.

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I have spent this evening re-reading the book of the prophet Daniel in the Navarre Bible which has a very good commentary, but I have a long way to go before I'm ready to 'read' the story of these stones with any confidence. Then we have a second Daniel at ground level. On the base of the pillar where St James is seated, we have Daniel in the lions' den. He is between two lions and his fingers are in their mouths. Pilgrims would throw sand into the open mouths while placing their right hand on the well known place just above this.

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Then on the reverse of this we have the supposed self-portrait by Maestro Mateo, facing into the cathedral. What we do know about him is that he was well paid and received a contract for the completion of the work. What we don't know is precisely what he did. Was he responsible for the building or the programme of sculpture, a master artisan? There are various theories.

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Finally, I have to share my news with you. Today it was agreed by the V & A Museum public relations department that I should be allowed into the museum for one hour on May 9th, before it opens to the public, to spend some time alone in the cast gallery, looking at the Portico de la Gloria and photographing it uninterrupted by the crowds of visitors. This is also three days before I set out walking from here to Santiago, so it is an interesting development. I think I'm going to have a good Camino, the way things are going. I just have to beware the rottweillers in France....(!)

Gareth